(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for conveying and rotating an image-forming belt while supporting said belt by at least two rolls.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
The image-forming belts such as electrophotographic element belt, electrostatic recording element belt and the like, as is well known, have comprised, providing on a belt-shaped support (which is normally made of a plastic film such as polyester film), a photoconductive layer, a dielectric layer and the like respectively. Generally speaking, the prior art image-forming belt supporting apparatus, as shown in FIG. 1, has been comprised of an image-forming belt 1 and at least two rolls, namely a driving roll 2a (which is normally made of hard rubber) and a driven roll 2b (which is normally made of a metal such as Al) and in addition a tension roll 2c (which is normally made of a metal such as Al) on request, said rolls being arranged to support said belt with the freedom of rotation and conveyance, wherein 3 is a meander-preventing guide provided each of the lateral end portions of the back (support side) of the belt 1. However, apparatus like this has been defective in that when these rolls are rotated in one direction, as shown in FIG. 2, between the inside (support side) of the belt 1 and the roll 2, there are rolled in foreign matters 4 such as shavings of the support and the guide of the belt 1, toners use in image formation and the like to form projections 5 on the surface of the flexible belt 1, whereby cracks break out on the belt 1 and so the utility thereof as the image-forming member deteriorates.